Reviews of Books Read in 2022
Updated: Apr 12, 2022
Here you can find the books I read in 2022 and a short review of each!
It's a progressive list, so I'll update it as I go!
1. Claw by Katie Berry
This book will transport you to Canada with its snowy setting and graphic descriptions, Katie Berry's book will make you glad for the safety of your own apartment. Berry does an excellent job putting the reader in the world of Lawless. As a woman who has been in primarily male-dominated occupations for nearly a decade, I relate to Christine Moon on a personal level. Berry crafts this character in such a realistic way. She is a strong female character that does what all the women like us do when we get used to the sexism around us. It doesn't affect her job, but she also doesn't lie down and take it. I really hope to see more of Christine Moon in future installments of the series. After reading this, I, for one, look forward to reading more of her work.
2. Liberation by Imogen Kealey
I abhor books that include Reading Guides. As a writer, I am a firm believer that your work should speak for itself and, if you've done your job right, a Reading Guide is pointless. Especially when there is no clear indication that it was developed by a third party. Setting those feelings aside, the book was pretty good. It was a bit hard to follow at times and most of the male characters were superficial at best, but it was a good read. It was informative, to some extent, and interesting for someone who wanted to join the Navy because of women like Nancy Wake. One of my pet peeves is having strong women next to flat male characters and while there are some males in this piece with development, most of them have very little. This lack of development makes Nancy Wake seem less developed as well. All in all, it's a fun book, but it does Nancy Wake dirty by poorly developing the characters around her.
3. Jurassic Park by Micheal Crichton
I was really looking forward to this one because anyone who knows me is aware that I love dinosaurs. They also know that my much broader interest in Paleontology stems from the Jurassic Park Franchise, created by Universal Studios. I had a LOT of expectations and this book exceeded every one of them. There are some inaccuracies, but if I were looking for something more accurate, I would (and have) read a textbook. A story like this takes a lot of introduction and Crichton does a good job blending this with storytelling to give his readers a fuller picture. He also does a good job creating descriptions of some of the more scientific-y things. I will warn you not to go in expecting the film. These two may share the same name and some of the same characters, but they tell two very different stories and give two very different messages. The book is very much about taking responsibility for what you have done and learning from it, even if you have f***** up beyond belief. My biggest complaint is that it can get a bit repetitive and preachy through the Ian Malcolm character. I also think you have to consider the time in which it was written and how that may affect some of this. All-in-all, I would recommend reading it, just be prepared for some preachy-ness.
4. Life Below Stairs: True Lives of Edwardian Servants by Alison Maloney
This was very educational. It was also written in a very engaging way. It's short sweet and to the point while not cutting corners on the information. I really enjoyed this; however, it tended to be repetitive in a lot of places and there are a few parts that got missed in the editing process. I believe that my work as an editor and as a writer has made me much more aware of errors that others may miss, so that should not dissuade you from reading this. It provides TONS of evidence from memoirs and biographies and offers images from the time period to support statements. I really learned a lot and I feel inspired to rewrite the Cinderella tale because of it. Should I?
5.) Dawn by Octavia E. Butler
This was a hard one to put down. At 283 pages, it took me 6 days to read it, and I'm a slow reader. This book is very complex; however, Butler does an excellent job laying out what is going on and explaining it. There are many messages that the book seems to be portraying, but I think the most important is the volatility of suspicious minds (cue the Elvis Presley song of the same name. Link for background music.). There were some things that were a challenge to understand and left me confused at first. As the book progressed, they became clearer, and ultimately left on a cliffhanger. After reading it, I see why this is a trilogy and I look forward to adding the other books to my collection and TBR list.
6.) (IN PROGRESS) A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One
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